


The Cat's Den

by Ghost0



Series: New York Underground [6]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Defenders (Marvel TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:02:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28120581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ghost0/pseuds/Ghost0
Summary: After a near death experience thanks to the Punisher, Felicia Hardy is sought out to help find dirt on Norman Osborn.
Series: New York Underground [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2053425
Kudos: 2





	The Cat's Den

The museum has been closed for several hours now. She crouched in a nearby tree and waited until the old couple had disappeared out of sight. Once they vanished, she jumped down and moved to the side of the building. Aiming for the roof ledge, she shot the grappling hook, pulling tight to confirm the line was secure. Climbing up slowly until she reached a window on the third floor. She reached backward and pulled her bag around and ruffled through the contents to find her tool. The suction cup grabbed onto the glass and she twisted the blade around in a circle. Making sure her grip on the handle was tight, she pushed firmly so that she could slide through the hole. Gently placing the piece of glass down, the put her tool back in her bag and zipped it up. Standing up straight, she walked down the hall to the exhibit.

The Ancient Egyptian exhibit was the main attraction right now. Stone tablets, hieroglyphics, and statues were all over the third floor. She admired the handiwork as she walked by a few pieces. When she was in earlier today, she actually did want to genuinely check out some of the stuff on display. It was a pretty enjoyable day. But she went for business, which is her one and only focus right now. She looked at her watch once she approached one of the most popular artifacts on display. The necklace of Isis, a multi-colored piece of jewelry that glistened and seemed to glow even within a dark room such as this. But she had to hold back until the timing was just right. When she came by earlier today, she got into the security room and placed a timer to temporarily disable the sensors around the artifact. Which should happen right about…now!

Her watch went off and she went to work. She took picked at the lock securing the glass display. The lid of the display opened up once she was done, her hands reached down and pulled out the artifact. She crouched down and placed it on the floor, Next, she pulled out a fake from her bag and placed it right where the real one just was. She then quickly closed the display and locked it back up. In and out, before the alarm system turned back on. She smiled to herself as she pulled out a container to place the necklace in. Looking around, she grabbed a random statue, one she knew wouldn’t have any sensors or alarms. Since the staff would notice that the window had been cut open, they would be looking to see what had been stolen. Taking the statue would draw their attention away from the necklace, her real target. That way she can sell it as soon as possible before they realize that it had been replaced by a fake. It was a solid fake, costing her a couple of hundred to have made. But the real one will easily bring in five figures. 

Zipping up her bag, she rushed right back to the window. Her hand reached out first to grab onto the rope. She poked her head out, looking downward to check and see the ground was clear. Good thing that she did, because she felt a bullet rush right above her head. She instinctively pulled back inside. “Shit!” Looking around her, she found a stairway access and pushed the door open. She ran up to go to the roof and opened the door. Once she stepped out she closed the door and pushed her back against the door. Right now she had cover. But in order to go down the back of the building, she will need to move to the right. That will leave her in the open. She took one slow, deep breath and clear her mind. After she exhaled she opened them and rushed out into the open. She moved quickly to dodge the bullets that were trying to take her down. Putting one foot on the edge, she pushed out as she dropped down. She grabbed onto a tree branch and flipped through the branches until she got over the fence surrounding the museum. Once she hit the ground she ran.

Once she had disappeared out of sight, the man from the building across the street stopped firing. There was a light breeze, making his dark trench coat wave in the wind. He pulled his eyes away from the scope and stared at the spot she last was. He knows where she sleeps, but needs to catch her in the act. Frank Castle packed his sniper and left the rooftop.

******

Peter fell backwards on the mat. He closed his eyes and moaned out loud. “Can you be just a touch softer?”

“I’ve seen you take a lot worse.” Jessica smirked. “You think you can flip and dodge every punch? Have to learn to take a punch and keep moving.”

Karen looked up from her laptop. “Yea, but barely moving after getting punched right in the face isn’t the same as taking one in the chest. He will need a minute to get focused.”

“See? She’s with me!” He pointed to her. “Listen to her! She knows the pain I’m in!”

Jessica rolled her eyes and Karen smiled and chuckled a bit. The private eye held out her hand and helped pull Peter back onto his feet. “Fine. That will be enough young padawan. You live to get punched another day.” Peter bowed as Jessica looked back over at Karen. “Please tell me you have something to go off on? I never thought I would be tired with a human punching bag.”

Karen sighed and shook her head. “There has been a large amount of money being moved around recently. But that seems to line up with the story that Norman told me. Researching and experimenting with equipment and weapons that could be applied for military combat, which is all legal. The only thing I can’t really figure out is this account named Jane Doe. There is a large sum of money, with a couple of thousand moving out every month like clockwork. There was a larger amount that was recently moved out, but it went to a hospital. Chances are that was a charitable donation.” Karen leaned back and ran a hand through her hair and sighed. “Maybe if we tried finding this research facility we can have something.”

“That’s good. If you don’t keep in mind that he already has his eye on us and that he probably knows that would be our next target.” Jessica said.

“Well…what if we go to his house?” Peter asked a little sheepishly. Jessica turned and gave him a look that told him he is a bit of an idiot.

“You want to break into the home of the man who is trying to kill you? You got balls boy wonder, but that’s a dumb idea. And that’s coming from the Queen of dumb ideas.”

“There isn’t any proof that he’s trying to kill me.” Peter tried to argue. “Yea, he is trying to find me, but he’s working with the police, right? He says he just wants to bring me in.”

“He knows where Colleen lives and yet hasn’t tried to move on us.” Jessica pointed out. “The only reason he isn’t pulling you down to the station himself is because he has a plan. Trust me, sometimes believing the worst in people is the right choice. Even if it feels shitty.” Her eyes darted away before turning around and walking around the room. 

Karen had been thinking about what Peter said. Standing up, she put her hands on her hips and looked downward. “He’s watching us because he wants to keep an eye on him. Not any of us.” She pointed to Peter. “And if there is any hard proof that Norman has ulterior motives, he would keep it in the one location he feels the most secure in.”

“He’s secure because he has the best security he can get. And he owns two floors that are both high up above the ground. The only way in without flying and crashing through the window is the elevator.” Jessica said. Both of them remained silent until the door opened. Luke Cage stepped through, shutting it behind him. Jessica nodded to him as she continued to pace.

“Mr. Cage, sir.” Peter took a few steps forward. He felt a little nervous and uncomfortable. And awkward, considering she is wearing one of Colleen’s old shirt but his costume pants are still on. He held his hands in front of him but couldn’t quite look him in the eyes. “I’m sorry about what happened to your brother. I didn’t mean to…and I didn’t know that was him – “

He put one hand up and gave him a kind smile. “Don’t go all blubbering on me kid. I don’t blame you for anything. He got himself in that suit, he made that choice.” He lowered his hand and his smile shrunk a bit. “Of course, after everything that has happened, I don’t hate him. I can’t really bring myself to do it. He might not have had a problem with that, but I’m not him.”

Karen looked up at Luke. She let the moment be silent, nodding to what Luke said. Eventually though, she spoke to him and brought him up to date. “We can confirm that Norman Osborn of Oscorp is planning something. Beyond just working with the police to track him down.” She clarified. “We couldn’t try and find anything discriminating from Oscorp tower. We’re thinking of trying to see if we can get in his home to find anything.”

“Except entering from the inside isn’t an option. And we are not having you web shooting or whatever to get in yourself!” Jessica pointed to Peter as she said that. “Unless there is a Spider-Woman, outside isn’t an option.”

“Hold on.” Luke crossed his arms. Something popped up in his mind. But it didn’t look like it was something he was super happy to think about. “I might know of someone that could help.” Jessica and Karen curiously looked over to Luke. He came back into focus and looked over at Karen. “Come with me. You will need to describe to her what to look for.” Karen looked at the both of them before slowly moving towards the door. He opened and let her walk through first. Peter looked back at Jessica, who seemed to be sporting a look of someone who thought they studied for a final exam but couldn’t think of a single answer for the very first question.

“Something wrong?” Peter asked.

She looked at him but didn’t speak for a couple of seconds. “Are you hiding a Spider-Woman?”

“I wish!” Peter responded enthusiastically. Jessica kept giving him the look, which made him nervous. “Not in that sense! I have a girlfriend! We haven’t a lot of proper dates lately. And I haven’t spoken to her since this whole thing happened. I just mean it would be nice to have a partner that can help me out when I’m out on patrol – “

Jessica punched him in the face again. He stumbled a bit, but shook his head and remained standing. “All right. That’s improvement. Feel like you can take a few more?” Peter stretched his neck and stared back at Jessica as they resumed their sparring session.

******

The elevator doors opened and Luke lead them down the hall. “OK, are you actually going to start speaking now or are you going to remain silent and let me do all the talking?” Karen asked Luke. She tried to get info on where they were going but he didn’t speak a single word. They got to the door at the end of the hall and he pressed the doorbell. He held his hands behind his back while she crossed her arms. 

The door slowly opened and a young woman appeared in the frame. The first thing Karen noticed was the hair. White as the snow that covered New York in the winter. The only thing that was maybe whiter was the fur collar of her dark blue jacket. A Metallica band shirt was underneath the unzipped jacket with black yoga pants covering the rest of her. This was probably the first time Karen saw someone with gray eyes, and it was a little hypnotizing for the first few seconds. Taking in the rest of her, she must be in her late twenties or early thirties. It was a little hard to tell. She smiled big, leaning her shoulder against the door frame while holding onto the door. “It’s been a minute, tall, dark, and handsome. You don’t write, you don’t call. I was really hoping we could have gotten coffee as a way to move past our unfortunate incident.”

Luke kept his eyes on the woman, but he spoke to Karen. “I want you to meet Felicia Hardy. We had a run in some time ago.”

When she turned to Karen, her smile didn’t change at all. Seemed to be as happy to see her. Her hand reached out and grabbed one of Karen’s. “Enchanté madam.” She pulled her hand up and kissed it while maintaining eye contact. Karen felt herself get red, but surprisingly not annoyed or uneasy. Pulling back, she turned around and walked inside. They took that as their cue to walk inside her home.

“A run in?” Karen whispered to Luke.

“I’ll explain later.” Luke assured her as they stepped inside. It was a nice apartment, a fair amount of open space and nice decorations. But it wasn’t over the top or a super big place. But it was probably more than what Karen expected someone of Felicia’s age to have. The white haired woman sat on a stool, sitting cross legged and leaning back on her hands as she looked over the two of them.

“What brings you to me? I got the impression that you would have preferred to never see me again.” Felicia tilted her head and raised an eyebrow at the bulletproof man.

“Well, you not what they say about when you assume something.” Felicia played with her eyebrows a bit when she heard that. But Luke kept his face neutral. “We need your expertise and skillset. I know you don’t usually freelance but I was wondering if you can make an exception.”

She hissed. Not in an angry way, but in the way someone would just before they were about to gently let someone down with what they had to say. “About that…I would normally be down for that. I mean it, I really want to see what has made you so desperate as to come to someone like me. But…I’ve been thinking I should be laying low for a little while. You see, I was out for a walk last night. One of my famous late night walks around town, you know.” Luke nodded, picking up on the hidden meaning. “When out of nowhere, someone was shooting at me! I swear, one was like this close to splattering my brains out!” She held up two of her fingers to show how close it had come.

Karen stepped forward a bit. “Look, I didn’t know we were coming here, but apparently we need your help. Seriously, everything he told me about you literally just happened when you opened the door.”

“He’s not much of a talker.” Felicia shook her in shame to Luke.

“We need to get into this place. If we can do this, it would be a huge deal. Please reconsider.” Karen softened her look towards Felicia. “You would be doing us a huge favor. And I promise to repay in any way that I can.” Luke raised his eyebrow as Karen said that. He didn’t think that was a smart thing to say to her, but he held his tongue. Felicia looked Karen over, humming to herself as she thought about the proposition in her head. The two women stared at each other for what felt like an hour before she finally answered.

“Why not? I’ll do it for you. But I’ll make you hold onto that promise.” Karen nodded in agreement. Clapping her hands together, she leaned forward. “What’s the job? Business or residence?”

“Norman Osborn’s home.” Luke responded.

She chuckled a little bit. “You sure know how to pick them! Do you guys have any kind of idea of what security system he uses?” She pulled her phone out of her pocket and began looking something up.

“No we don’t. So I guess we have to do some research on that.” Karen turned to look at Luke. “I guess this will take a couple of days, maybe try and stakeout. But how could we do that if it’s so high -?”

“No need!” She stood up and put her phone away. “I mean; I will have to wait until tomorrow night to do it. But I got it covered. Anything else?” 

“Uh…yea, yea.” Karen nodded. “Computer files are what you are looking for. As much as you can get on a flash drive. The shadier and sketchier the better.”

“Ah, nothing shiny. Well, OK I’ll still do it.” They turned around and started to leave. But Felicia reached one hand out and grabbed Karen’s hand. Pulling herself forward, she whispered her question. “Are you working with Spider-Man? Cause I got the feeling that you are trying to help someone out and with him being the only thing the news talks about…is it Spider-Man?” Felicia sounded like she was a secret fan girl of a popular singer, trying to get information out of someone who has met them in person.

Karen looked back, trying to come up with a vague answer. Luke called out to her, making her turn her head. She walked away briskly, leaving Felicia a little disappointed. But she pushed that out of her mind, bringing her phone back out to get more information regarding the building that Osborn uses as his home.

******

All they could do was wait. It was the next day and chances are that Felicia will be getting ready to infiltrate any minute. Luke and Colleen walked up the stairs to her place. On the way though, Colleen decided to ask him something that was in the back of their heads.

“Hey, so no judgement or anything, but how exactly did you meet this Felicia?” Colleen turned to look at Luke. He let out a sigh, raising his eyebrows and looking back down at her.

“That is the hundredth time one of you has asked me that.”

“Because you won’t answer.” Colleen pointed out. They suddenly stopped in the hallway. Luke turned completely around.

“She broke into Paradise several months ago. She looked to steal whatever money we kept in our safe. I ran into her because I came in early that day to get some paperwork done. And as you can imagine, we had a bit of a fight. Tracked her throughout the city until I discovered her name. Turns out she is this really good burglar that likes to find money or valuable to sell on the black market.”  
“So you made peace with a thief who stole who knows how much?” Colleen raised an eyebrow.

Luke shook his head. “She isn’t bad. OK, she does like to have some luxuries. But a large amount of what she steals or gets on the black market she actually donates to orphanages across the city.”

“Sure, we can pretend all the people she steals from are rich assholes, but I’m guessing she likes to steal paintings and artifacts.” Colleen pulled out her phone and pulled up an article about a statue being stolen from the museum. “Not exactly a Robin Hood figure.”

Luke sighed as he saw the article. “Our deal was that she stays out of Harlem and I don’t turn her in. But if I ever saw her in Harlem again, I would deliver her to the station myself.”

Colleen pulled her phone down and looked at Luke with some uncertainty. “I don’t know Luke. Have you made any deals like this before?”

“No. You don’t have to beat me up because I’m not like Dillard or Cottonmouth.” He turned and kept walking to Colleen’s door. She followed behind him, letting him open the door. But when they entered, the place was deserted. The window was opened and Peter’s suit wasn’t anywhere in sight. Luke stepped further into the room. “Son of a…where did he go?” He spoke with frustration in his voice. As he spoke, she picked up the phone belonging to Peter, opening it to the last thing he saw.

“Felicia mentioned someone was shooting at her on her last job, right?” Luke turned around. Getting closer, he looked over her shoulder to look at the news article Peter had pulled up. Well, less than a news article and more of a blog of someone who like The Punisher a little too much. The most recent post talked about the last couple of sighting for the vigilante in New York. A couple nights ago someone saw someone vaguely resembling Frank Castle not too far from the museum that had been broken into. Last night, someone thinks that a couple of dead gangsters found about a block from Felicia’s apartment were his most recent victims. They ignored the part about how this guy thinks that the Punisher is the only real hero protecting the people. “He might lack common sense and control, but he can put the dots together when it counts. If you told him who we got to help you, chances are he might already be at Osborn’s home.” Luke exhaled in frustration as they both looked out the open window, hoping the kid knows better than to get in Frank’s way.


End file.
